Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction Into Agriculture

The Disaster Risk Reduction project in Bicol Region, Philippines, aimed at strengthening the institutional and technical capacities, risks-related services' provision and coordination in agriculture to better prepare for and manage climate-related risks, and enhancing the risk reduction capacities and livelihood resilience of farmers and fisher folks, who are highly vulnerable to risk and extreme climatic events. This technical summary presents results and lessons from the project.

The eastern Africa sub-region has experienced recurrent drought and other climate-related impacts, with damaging effects on agriculture, food security and development. This report discusses institutional improvements for addressing disaster risks and presents options to strengthen the climate resilience of the agriculture and food sectors.

This discussion paper aims to help practitioners work in a more informed and politically sensitive way to integrate actions on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) in agriculture. It illustrates some typical governance and political economy-related barriers that may hamper convergence or integration of DRR and CCA actions. It also provides guidance for in-depth governance analysis, putting the analytical focus at national and subnational levels, while considering the international context as an important factor for convergence. The FAO Governance and Policy Support Discussion Paper series provides perspectives and concepts on critical governance and policy issues that are relevant to FAO work at country, regional and global levels. Discussion Papers are often based on work in progress, and we welcome suggestions and ideas by email at: [email protected]. The series is available at: http://www.fao.org/policy-support/resources/

This book is related to disaster risk reduction in agriculture particularly under changing climate. Climate change refers to significant, long-term changes in the global climate. There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause. The planets average surface temperature has risen to about 1oC since the late 19th century and most of the warming occurred in the past 40 years. The years 2016 and 2020 are tied for the warmest year on the record. Similarly, other evidence of rapid climate change includes warming of oceans, shrinking of ice sheets, retreating glaciers, decreasing snow cover, rising of sea level, declining artic sea ice, increased frequency of extreme events, ocean acidification and loss of biodiversity. Hence, climate change impacts, both extreme weather and slow-onset events, have impacted several sectors of the national economies and activities, in particular agriculture and food production, augmented by other challenges be it geopolitical, cost of finance or supply chain related, and in a time of increased food insecurity. Without CO2 fertilization, effective adaptation, and genetic improvement, each degree-Celsius increase in global mean temperature would, on average, reduce global yields of wheat by 6.0%, rice by 3.2%, maize by 7.4%, and soybean by 3.1%. Hence this book is useful as a study material to teach in the field of agriculture and climate change. The book is useful for instructors and postgraduate as well as undergraduate students involved in the study of climate change. The book also provide guidance to multiple stakeholders to design mitigation and adaptation efforts to climate change and ensure food security in the developing world.

On top of a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, humanity and our food security face a range of new and unprecedented hazards, such as megafires, extreme weather events, desert locust swarms of magnitudes previously unseen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture underpins the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people – most of them in low-income developing countries – and remains a key driver of development. At no other point in history has agriculture been faced with such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks, interacting in a hyperconnected world and a precipitously changing landscape. And agriculture continues to absorb a disproportionate share of the damage and loss wrought by disasters. Their growing frequency and intensity, along with the systemic nature of risk, are upending people’s lives, devastating livelihoods, and jeopardizing our entire food system. This report makes a powerful case for investing in resilience and disaster risk reduction – especially data gathering and analysis for evidence informed action – to ensure agriculture’s crucial role in achieving the future we want.

The frequency of natural disasters, especially storms and floods, has been increasing globally over the last several decades. Developing countries are especially vulnerable to such disasters but are often the least capable of coping with the associated impacts because of their limited adaptive capacity. Despite the increased interest in strengthening institutional capacity, it remains a challenge for many developing countries. Institutional capacity for disaster management and risk reduction can be built through various mechanisms. One key approach is via the agriculture sector, where climate-resilient agriculture has become an effective tool for adapting to climate change and developing resilience in the long run – resulting in increased capacity for disaster management and risk reduction at the system, institutional, and individual levels. This paper presents the experiences of four countries, which we have evaluated to develop an institutional strengthening framework.

This report presents the findings of a multi-year FAO study undertaken on over 900 farms in ten different countries that measured, using field data, benefits gained through the use of innovative farming practices designed to boost the resilience of farmers in the face of natural disasters and other shocks. Its findings show that the use of good disaster risk reduction practices offer significant economic gains at the household level, and also that – because they are usually low-cost and easily implemented – they hold significant potential for reducing disaster risks at the national and regional scales as well. These results can guide farmers in making choices about how to manage risks, and have important implications for disaster risk policymaking as well.

Disasters are resulting in unprecedented levels of destruction across the world. These shocks and disruptions affect the functioning and sustainability of agricultural production and threaten the livelihoods of millions of people reliant on agrifood systems. Reducing the impact of disasters in agriculture requires a better understanding of the extent to which these events produce negative impacts in agriculture and necessitates an investigation into the underlying risks that make agriculture vulnerable to the effects of disasters. The FAO flagship report on ‘The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security’ provides a timely and comprehensive overview of how disasters are affecting agriculture and food security around the world. Building on previous work of the FAO on this topic, the report estimates losses caused by disasters on agricultural production over the past three decades and delves into the diverse threats and impacts affecting the crops, livestock, forestry, and fisheries and aquaculture subsectors. It analyzes the complex interplay of underlying risks, such as climate change, pandemics, epidemics and armed conflicts, and how they drive disaster risk in agriculture and agrifood systems at large. The report provides examples of actions and strategies for investing in resilience and proactively addressing risks in agriculture. It demonstrates ways to mainstream disaster risk into agricultural practices and policies and calls for a deeper understanding of the context in which these solutions are implemented.

Disaster Risk Management (DRM) combines, through a management perspective, the concept of prevention, mitigation and preparedness with response to the rising frequency and severity of natural hazards and disasters. This guide provides a set of tools that have been developed and tested in field projects, with particular reference to disaster-prone areas and vulnerable sectors and population groups.--Publisher's description.